A consortium of companies, led by the UAE’s Marlan Space and US-French space startup Loft Orbital, plans to invest $1 billion as they add 40 satellites to an AI-infused constellation.
Orbitworks, a joint venture between Marlan Space and Loft Orbital, had originally planned 10 satellites. The company said last month it had secured a deal with the French space agency to provide services with the constellation, called Altair.
Marlan Space is owned by International Holding Co., a publicly traded company overseen by Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed. Orbitworks expects the imagery to be focused on defense and security applications, with potential for other uses.
“I would imagine that this would grow very fast into emergency applications,” said Hamdullah Mohib, chief executive of Marlan Space and Orbitworks. “Road traffic management to even agricultural, environmental and other similar applications.”
Orbitworks is building the satellites in Abu Dhabi’s industrial zone, KEZAD, with components from different suppliers across the world. The project was initially for 10 satellites, which use NVIDIA Corp. chips, but has been expanded to 50.
The first satellite will be launched in early October using SpaceX rockets, the company said.